Non Piscian Resources Such as Crabs & Snails as Food by the Plain Tribes of Assam

Abstract

Non piscian fishery resources including snails, crabs, prawns, shrimps, lobster, frog etc. are regarded as important resources along with fresh and marine water fishes. The Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys along with the hilly regions of Assam are inhabited by various plains and hill tribes. It has been found that these people use various species of snails and crabs in their diet either by cooking or in raw conditions. Besides, some species have also been identified to be of commercial value as indicated by their high prices indifferent markets or trading centers. Although some tribes claim that molluscans or crustaceans are used in curing several health ailments, yet not many systematic studies have been made to evaluate their food value or the kind of edible species practiced by various tribes in different parts of the state. Moreover farming of snails and crabs has not been systematically developed as yet. The various tribes in whose diet snails and crabs are included simply harvest them from the natural or wild water through traditional techniques. Also, there is lack of well-organized market system for such products. In certain areas the samples are either destroyed or thrown away without consumption or rearing. Some tribes also use these samples as duck-feed and recent report suggests that some fish farmers are using them as feed for cat fish farming. As a whole the exploitation of these resources is being carried out without any systematic and scientific planning. Therefore it is pertinent to consider for their proper management and propagation for encouraging entrepreneurship development among the unemployed educated youth. The aims and objectives of the present investigation are to explore the non-piscian resources such as snails and crabs of Assam with certain ideas of its taxonomic diversity, habitat, ecology, propagation and food value.